As I write this, I am recovering from a broken tibia and fibula. Overshadowing the actual pain of the injury is the inconvenience a broken leg has on day to day activities.
To put it mildly, having a broken leg sucks. The original pain from the injury that caused the break is just that: painful. For me, I got very lucky, because my pain level was minimal. Most injuries of the type I experienced are very painful. So comparatively speaking, I have nothing to complain about. And yet, I am: because after the pain subsides, your whole life is inconvenienced for 3 months.
Forced Laziness
For me, It was my right leg that broke. So no driving for three months. Obviously, for most of 3 months, you can't walk with a broken leg, so no trips to the store. And if you are an active person, a broken leg really shuts you down. Its funny: often I pine for the opportunity to be a couch potato. But when forced to be one, its a lot less enjoyable.
If you do push it, your reward is pain, and sometimes it doesn't kick in until the next day.
After the initial shock, the pain is the least of your concerns. So this becomes a more complex question: would you severely inconvenience your life for 3 months for debt freedom? And while many people probably feel they could suffer through the pain of a broken leg for three months if at the end of it they were able to walk away from debt (pun somewhat intended), few people actually do this, metaphorically speaking.
Freedom is Just a Broken Leg Away
If you think about the amount of money the average hourly worker in America earns in 3 months, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that total is approximately $12,037.74. According to the American Bankers Association, a total of 364,000,000 credit cards are held by Americans. Assuming all revolving debt outstanding is attributable to credit cards, then based on data from the Federal Reserve, the average balance on a credit card in the United States is $2,821.36. So what does all that data say? Not only does the average American not have to be seriously inconvenienced for 3 months, they only have to be inconvenienced for one!
By completely shutting down all other forms of spending for a single month, Americans could pay off an entire credit card balance, and not have to deal with it again. And for every additional card, assuming the balance was in line with the overall average, the pain would only be an additional month. 1 month seems like a long time during the time it is elapsing. But once its over, it is completely forgotten in a matter of days. Sure, you cannot go endlessly diverting all of your earnings to pay down endless credit card debt, but 1 month? Surely that's not asking too much!
Be a Frugal Patriot
Sometimes it seems as though being frugal is the opposite of being patriotic in the United States. And while consumption is an essential factor in a thriving economy, debt has a crippling effect. In the long term, debt hampers the ability to distribute funds throughout the economy. Concentrating your spending on interest payments only benefits a subset of the economy: banks. Debt is one of the key mechanisms that enables the transfer of wealth to the top 1%.
Summary
So if you want a more healthy economy with opportunities for all, you need to get out of debt. In the short term, that means you need to back off from contributing to the economy in the form of spending. Getting out of debt may take no more than being willing to severely inconvenience your life for 3 months. For some, that time frame may only be a single month. Sure, during that month, things are tough. But once your debt is gone, the interest and payments you were previously making will feel like a raise.
And if you can't find the willpower to stop spending for 3 months, maybe breaking your leg is a good option. Without being able to drive, shop, or play sports with friends, you options for spending become very limited. After 3 months, you'll be able to walk on your own - both literally and figuratively - with no debt holding you back.
What about you? Have you ever broken a limb? Did it have any effect on your ability to either repay debt or avoid spending?